Judge Dredd - gone nuts !

[Wotto]

Hey all,

My neighbours Judge Dredd appears to be going a little crazy.
When your playing it - it basically starts going into various modes all by itself
DMD displays for certain modes run constantly etc.

Where do you start with an issue like this?

[Strangeways]

So is it going into game modes or into setup modes ?

Does it report any issues at bootup ?

[felixthadog]

I've got a Judge Dredd machine so if you need me to check anything on my machine or provide photos for reference, let me know.

Cheers,
Matthew

[Wotto]

Thanks guys.
It’s fairly random in gameplay.

Nino – I will knock a few games out on it tonight and see if there is some pattern or when it may be happening exactly and try to get a bit more specific back in this thread tomorrow.

Oh - and it is going into ‘game’ modes.
It has only 1 x switch issue at start up ( which is a rollover switch ) , other than that , nothing.

[Wotto]

Ok - heres an update.

It has a dodgy switch but I cant see how that would cause the problems this game appears to be having.

First I will cover the main issue.

(1) The issue that it starts in modes and jumps all over the place

You start a game and it goes straight into one of the modes ( the gameplay modes in the chain like Blackout, Pursuit or Bad Impersonator etc ) my neighbour tells me that normally you have to drop the JUDGE targets and then get the ball into the sniper tower to start a mode - then play the mode, then the game goes back to normal and you repeat process for the next mode that you need ( he has owned this game for 5 years ).

One thing I witnessed whilst in the middle of Bad Impersonator mode , the game just 'switched itself' into Pursuit mode.

Also - There is a JD bike that must roll across the DMD at certain times in this game and it gives you 500,000 each time - this bike never stops !! It will soon need new tyres 

Multiball just starts by itself at anytime as well.




(2) The dodgy switch

Switch 64 , the Left Ramp Exit opto is fine when you have the playfield up ( right up ) against the backbox, however, as soon as you lower the playfield to normal position and go into Switch edge test it is jumping non stop between open / closed.

If I went into Single Switch Test and moved my finger between the opto switch it appeared fine then too.


I really dont see that causing the main problems going on with this JD but thought I would mention it.

The machine reports NO errors at start up tonight BUT my neighbour said yesterday it did AND it pointed to that switch.


I hope this makes some sense to someone.


Cheers

[Creech]

Could it simply be a dirty or faulty opto. I remember on my Funhouse one of the optos was so filthy that it kept triggering the switch. This caused some weird things to happen on the game including triggering modes at the wrong time and some funky scoring. That could explain why all the modes are going off.

Try disconnecting the opto and see if things return to normal.

[Strangeways]

Could it simply be a dirty or faulty opto. I remember on my Funhouse one of the optos was so filthy that it kept triggering the switch. This caused some weird things to happen on the game including triggering modes at the wrong time and some funky scoring. That could explain why all the modes are going off.

Try disconnecting the opto and see if things return to normal.

good call - Switch matrix can give unexpected results !

[Wotto]

will go do that now 

[Strangeways]

will go do that now 

you are become quite an expert in troubleshooting DMDs

 

[felixthadog]

my neighbour tells me that normally you have to drop the JUDGE targets and then get the ball into the sniper tower to start a mode - then play the mode, then the game goes back to normal and you repeat process for the next mode that you need ( he has owned this game for 5 years ).

That is incorrect, as soon as you start a game one of the two BUILD UP CHAIN FEATURE lamps is lit, you only need to get the ball up the left lamp or into the Sniper Tower (depending on which lamp is lit) to start the current mode (indicated by the lit Mode lamp in the middle of the playfield ). Once the mode is over, the BUILD UP CHAIN FEATURE lamp is lit again. Knocking all of the JUDGE targets down lights the Lock feature for Multiball.

Matthew

[Wotto]

Thanks guys - that is all it was 
AMAZING how a switch can hove so much affect on a game.
Yes- I keep learning Nino.

And Mathew- yes I just also discovered a minute ago on his machine that the shot to the sniper tower etc to start the mode , thanks for that info as well.

I charged him $200.00 

Have a great night guys